Being a boy or a child from an affluent background is connected with higher chances of peanut allergies according to a recent study. Records from over 400 GP practices in England between 2001 and 2005 were analysed, revealing that more than 25,000 people were diagnosed with this allergy at some point in their lives. Read more »

Thilo Reich looks at how the parasite that causes malaria has to compete with other strains to survive

Malaria is a major problem in sub-Sharan Africa. Every year around 250 million people are infected with the parasite called Plasmodium. It is spread by mosquitoes and enters the blood stream through their bite. Children suffer most from this parasite and one in five child deaths in Africa are attributed to it. Read more »

Every organism on earth has a body clock which controls its daily and seasonal activities. These include sleep cycles, the opening of flowers, butterfly migration and much more. The body clock is known to be important in humans. If it is disrupted through jet-lag or shift work, then diabetes, cancer and mental-health problems can occur.Read more »

Experts from 18 countries will meet at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, to discuss ways of combating a virus which poses a serious risk to the swine industry around the world. Read more »

A mushroom performed live jazz improv to a packed house last night at Inspace. “The Sounds of Spores Spectacular” was the highlight of this week’s Sounds of Spores installation, created by Edinburgh’s Yann Seznec and Patrick Hickey. Accompanying the mushroom was human jazz trio The Dyad, who improvised along with the sounds from the fungus.Read more »

Ancient weather reports, including data from weather stations, harvest records and even monks’ diaries, have been scoured by researchers to piece together how the European climate has changed over the last five centuries.Read more »

Scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge have created the world's first bird flu resistant chickens. These genetically modified chickens still succumb to avian influenza but they do not pass the virus onto other birds. As Dr Laurence Tiley, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology at the University of Cambridge, explains “Preventing virus transmission in chickens shoul Read more »